Mediagazer: Letter from Toronto: Transition Grips the Film Business (Sharon Waxman/The Wrap)

5:25 PM ET, September 13, 2010

Top News:

Americans Spending More Time Following the News — Ideological News Sources: Who Watches and Why — OVERVIEW — There are many more ways to get the news these days, and as a consequence Americans are spending more time with the news than over much of the past decade.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Media Notes: A new poll shows ‘old media’ holding their own in an Internet world — With news and gossip leaping off every laptop screen, smartphone and Facebook page, the common wisdom these days is that traditional news outlets are doomed. — But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral …

New York Times:

Hollywood Reporter to Become a Weekly Magazine — LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood Reporter has been dying a slow death for a decade, bleeding from layoffs, vanishing advertisers and diminished relevance in a news cycle now dominated by cutthroat entertainment blogs.

Discussion: Gawker, Cinematical, The Wrap, Mediaite, DailyFinance, Media Buyer Planner, Company Town, New York Observer, The Wire, LA Observed, media 360 and New York Magazine

Chris Smith / New York Magazine:

America Is a Joke — The worst of times for politics and media has been the best of times for The Daily Show's host—and unfortunately things are getting even funnier. — I — t's hard to top a kick in the nuts. — Especially when the kicker is Linda McMahon, the Connecticut Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Discussion: The Corsair, newsfeed.time.com, Mediaite, Strupp and On Media's Blog

Chris Dale / YouTube Blog:

Testing, testing...YouTube begins trial of new live streaming platform — From U2 to the Indian Premier League to the White House to E3, we've worked closely with our partners to give you a front row seat to a wide array of live events. Today and tomorrow, tune in as we open a new chapter of YouTube live streaming.

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:

RIP, the Press Release (1906-2010) — and Long Live the Tweet — When It Comes to Pithy Spin, Should Marketers Be Taking Their Cues From the Celebrity-Industrial Complex? — “I specifically ordered Persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple Persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh.”

Discussion: pr-media-blog.co.uk, Editors Weblog, POP! PR Jots and Silicon Alley Insider

Melvin Felix / NYU Local:

NYU, NYTimes Launch Hyper-Local News Blog for East Village — That's right, we're rollin with the New York Times. — Launching today is The Local: East Village, a new hyper-local, interactive news site run by the university in collaboration with the Times.

Discussion: PressThink, MediaShift, Romenesko, Runnin' Scared, The Next Web, Lost Remote, NetNewsCheck Latest and EditorandPublisher.com

David Carr / New York Times:

Retooling in Response to Politico — Everyone knows that Washington is a pretty good place to look for news. Less well known? You can make money doing it. — While the rest of the country cycles through the effects of the recession, Washington keeps spending money (our money) …

Discussion: On Media's Blog

Natalie Zmuda / AdAge:

Gap Taps Foursquare Cofounders for Holiday Ad Campaign — Crowley and Selvadurai Participate in Exchange for Donation to Nonprofit CampInteractive — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — What do Foursquare cofounders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai have in common with Lauren Bush? The Gap, apparently.

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

The FT Has Bought A New Video Studio — The Financial Times has made what it's calling a “major investment” in a new online video studio at its Southwark Bridge HQ. — FT.com had already been posting video interviews with newsmakers and analysis from its editorial staff.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Seeing a Tilt in Sunday Talk — Senator Patrick Leahy, left, and Senator Jeff Sessions on “Face the Nation” on CBS, discussing a Supreme Court nominee. — It is a perennial complaint about American television news: that the guests on the Sunday morning public affairs programs are not representative of the country's diversity.

Discussion: Think Progress

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

“The Social Network” is Just as Brutal as Mark Zuckerberg Feared — It's hard to feel sorry for a billionaire. But here I am, feeling bad for Mark Zuckerberg. If you see the “The Social Network”, you're probably going to feel bad for him, too. — I saw a screening of the movie last week …

Discussion: New Yorker, Anil Dash, The Wrap, Silicon Alley Insider, /Film, Gawker, DealBook, The Not-So Private Parts, VentureBeat, BoomTown and kottke.org, more at Techmeme »

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

You've Got Ads — AOL Inc., struggling to turn around its fortunes, is preparing to introduce a larger, splashier ad format that it hopes will attract more ad dollars from big brands and help revitalize its business, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Digits, the Econsultancy blog, Spiersblr, Media Buyer Planner and Silicon Alley Insider, more at Techmeme »

Felix Salmon:

How the WSJ magazine fails its readers — Lucas Conley's piece on Ugg for the WSJ's magazine is a perfect example of why the WSJ shouldn't have a glossy, fashion-friendly magazine. — Conley does a reasonably good job of covering the way in which Deckers Outdoor Corporation …

Discussion: The Awl and Talking Biz News

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Atlantic.com's New Tech Channel Will “Take A Broader And More Cultural View Of Technology” — Back in July, former Wired science blogger Alexis Madrigal joined The Atlantic as a senior online editor who was hired to oversee a new tech channel on Atlantic.com.

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

Spike's Supersized Ad Breaks Buck TV's Clutter-Busting Trend — Over-Stuffed Pods Cram in Up to 20 Advertisers, Raising Buyer Ire and Concern Inventory Is Being Devalued — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — We'll be right back after these commercial messages. Will you?

Discussion: Company Town

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Russian Snob Lands in New York — Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian metals magnate and owner of the New Jersey Nets, figures he knows just what New York City needs: another snob. — Mr. Prokhorov this week is bringing Snob, a Russian-language, general-interest magazine that caters …

Discussion: New York Observer and New York Magazine

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Wherewereyou: WaPo puts the humble hashtag to work — In our new age of two-way news, news organizations sometimes struggle to find a way to foster productive conversation: to move beyond superficial gestures of inclusiveness — empty questions, atomized responses — to create conversation that is meaningful and purposeful.

Discussion: Lost Remote and SocialTimes.com

John Plunkett / Guardian:

Loaded founder James Brown on his new digital venture — Sabotage Times, edited by Brown, has about 150 writers who only get paid if their work is picked up by other sites — James Brown is an unlikely birdwatcher. The former Loaded editor has spent 90 minutes discussing football …

Discussion: magCulture.com/blog and Magforum

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:

Letter from Toronto: Transition Grips the Film Business — The sense of transition in the film industry is palpable at this year's Toronto Film Festival, where they are still doling out one press pass per online news organization as if they've not yet noticed that online is where everyone has landed.

Discussion: Variety

Brian Ries / The Daily Beast:

The Meanest Commenters on the Web — It was supposed to be a meaningful conversation with readers of his Politico blog. Instead, it has degenerated into a screaming pit. Brian Ries on the state of talk-back on the Web. — Ben Smith, the popular Brooklyn-based political journalist who blogs at Politico.com, is under attack.

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Observer and Ben Smith's Blog

thebaron.info:

New Thomson Reuters desktop aims at Bloomberg — Thomson Reuters' next generation desktop product for financial professionals (pictured above) incorporates social media features it hopes will help win customers from Bloomberg and others. — Eikon, to be launched on Tuesday …

Discussion: Financial Times

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Who Knew? The Village Voice Is Relevant Again — Over the past few years, it became easy to ignore the Village Voice. No longer. — Recently, the buzz is coming back. — To name a few memorable pieces of late, there was... - Last week's compelling cover story that took readers inside …

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

What do they read — actually? — Unlike their dead tree ancestors, online publications provide an interesting view on what readers actually like. Most news sites have Most E-mailed, Most Viewed and Most Blogged or Most Commented lists. Some even propose Editor's Picks.

Mike Reynolds / Multichannel News:

Cable's Upfront Trifecta — CAB Estimates Ad-Supported Cable's Take At $8 Million For 2010-11 TV Season — The final tally for cable's upfront for the 2010-11 TV season was a strong one as the medium notched its best performance ever during the annual Madison Avenue bazaar.

Michael Wolff / Newser:

Can the Brits Get Rupert? — Even just a few weeks ago, who would have doubted the outcome of a competition between Rupert Murdoch and the New York Times? The Times' many-months investigation of illegal phone hacking by Murdoch reporters in Britain is a reminder that while everybody …

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:

What the Christian Science Monitor Can Teach the Mormon Deseret News: The Old Church of News & Stated Religion — Journalism. Values. Put those two words together, and you could have a conference snorefest or a lively debate, though I've got to admit the odds lean to the former.